Colin Kaepernick Reaches Deal With The NFL On Collusion Allegations

Colin Kaepernick has likely reached a financial settlement with the NFL in his collusion complaint against the league, according to reports on Friday. The former quarterback had filed a joint complaint with Eric Reid against the league in October 2017, claiming that the owners worked together to deprive him of employment. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback was without a team soon after drawing national attention for kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality Kaepernick parted ways with the San Francisco 49ers in May 2017. According to Yahoo News, Kaepernick and Reid had indicated that they would only settle the complaint if a lucrative financial agreement was reached between the players and the NFL. The amount, if true, will likely never be released. Either way, this years-long saga between Kaepernick, now a national icon, and the NFL looks to have come to an end. Arbitrator Stephen Burbank was soon going to conduct a hearing to begin resolving the issue, likely exposing the inner workings of league business, along with the details of depositions attorneys have taken with high-level executives and some owners. The league and Kaepernick’s attorneys released a statement Friday saying the matter had been resolved confidentially. “For the past several months, counsel for Mr. Kaepernick and Mr. Reid have engaged in an ongoing dialogue with representatives of the NFL,” the statement said. “As a result of those discussions, the parties have decided to resolve the pending grievances. The resolution of this matter is subject to a confidentiality agreement so there will be no further comment by any party.” The NFLPA (National Football League Players Association) also released a statement Friday, supporting the settlement between the league and players. “Today, we were informed by the NFL of the settlement of the Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid collusion cases,” the NFLPA said. “We are not privy to the details of the settlement, but support the decision by the players and their counsel. We continuously supported Colin and Eric from the start of their protests, participated with their lawyers throughout their legal proceedings and were prepared to participate in the upcoming trial in pursuit of both truth and justice for what we believe the NFL and its clubs did to them. We are glad that Eric has earned a job and a new contract [from the Carolina Panthers], and we continue to hope that Colin gets his opportunity as well.”